Export a SharePoint Custom Content Type That Inherits from Contact to Outlook

Question

I've created a custom content type that inherits from the built in Contact content type in WSS 3.0. When I create a list instance and assign my custom content type, there is no "Connect to Outlook" option like there would be if an end user created a new "Contact" directly. Am I doing something wrong or is this a limitation of SharePoint?

The relevant part of my feature looks like this:

<ContentType
    ID="0x010600C4945CA38AAB46cdA161C4146965F0E3"

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

The "connect to Outlook" is a function of the list, not the content type. I.e. you can have multiple content types for a Contact list, but you will need to create a list based on a Contact list to get the additional features you require.

For a test to see what I mean, create a contact list, go to the advanced settings for the list and Allow management of content types. Add your custom content type and remove the default contact.

Now for giggles, delete your custom content type and add the Announcement content type. You will still be able to "Connect to Outlook".

Hopefully that demonstrates that the content type is mainly about the fields available to the listitem stored as that particular content type.